Friedman Column Offensive To Reader

October 17, 2001

Thomas L. Friedman's Oct.13 column should have read, "It's about freedom, stupid, but really about oil as usual." He categorizes Prime Minister Sharon's words as "stupid and offensive." That is offensive to me. He points out the lack of freedom in the Arab states without reiterating that Israel has always been, and remains today, the only democracy in the entire region.

Sadly, Russia's absence as a player brings oil to the forefront again. Yes, politics is a dirty game. President Bush said we must make no distinction between the terrorists and the states that support them. Under Yasser Arafat's rule, Palestinian Islamic terrorist groups are free to launch wave after wave of suicide bombers. Summer camps in Gaza teach Palestinian children how to become martyrs. Arafat's government-controlled newspaper, Al Hayat Al Jadida, said on Sept. 11, the very day of the suicide bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon: "The suicide bombers of today are the noble successors of the Lebanese suicide bombers, who taught the U.S. Marines a tough lesson in [Lebanon]. These suicide bombers are the salt of the Earth, the engines of history. They are the most honorable people among us."

It's hard to square the legitimacy of our all-out war against terrorism while urging "restraint" upon Israel. Having heeded requests not to respond to scud missiles during the Gulf War, swallowing the audacity of Saudi Arabia's edict against Jewish servicemen on their soil while protecting its oil from Hussein, and now, once again being kept out of actively joining the crusade against worldwide terrorism (except in Israel?), it is no wonder that Prime Minister Sharon was moved to tell the world that Israel will no longer roll over and play dead for the sake of "politics as usual."